VALLEY INSIDER

Dr. Beth Seidenberg made a big bet when her venture capital firm Westlake Village BioPartners invested $85 million in ArsenalBio, a South San Francisco company working on “programmable cell therapy.” … Dave Duckwitz is the new chief executive at Sensor Industries in Camarillo. Previously, he was chief executive at marketing agency Target Media Partners in North Hollywood. Mike Panesis, founder and current board member of Sensor Industries who also serves as executive director at the Center for Entrepreneurship at California Lutheran University, called Duckwitz “an experienced CEO who has excelled at strategic leadership and execution.” … Scott Akerley, chief executive of Pango Group in Glendale, has joined the advisory board at the University of Colorado Real Estate Center. Pango Group owns Glen Oaks Escrow and American Trust Escrow. … Meghan Sharp, former managing director at BP Ventures/Americas in San Francisco, has switched to Beyond Limits, an artificial intelligence firm in Glendale. While at BP Ventures, she facilitated a $25 million investment in Beyond Limits. Chief Executive AJ Abdallat said “it is a huge compliment when your investor becomes one of your key executives.” … Chairman Toby Emmerich of Warner Bros. Pictures Group in Burbank enjoyed a laugh while announcing that “Joker” had amassed $804 million at the box office, making it the top-grossing R-rated movie in history. Emmerich congratulated actor Joaquin Phoenix, who played the supervillain. … California State University – Los Angeles opened the Sikand Center for Sustainable and Intelligent Infrastructure, named in honor of Gunjit Sikand, late founder of Sikand Engineering Associates in Van Nuys. Mark Sikand, the son who now runs the company, said the goal is to create a center “to engage in urban sustainability research.”